In an attempt to increase revenue, two French parliamentarians are proposing that the government put in place a new tax regime on art in its 2026 budget. The French art world has risen up to oppose it, including issuing a lengthy statement with 27 signers, including leading fair company Art Basel, which just held the fourth edition of Art Basel Paris; auctioneer Drouot; visual artist rights management organization ADAGP; the Association for the International Diffusion of French Art (ADIAF), which annually awards the Marcel Duchamp Prize to a French artist; and the CPGA, the Comité Professionel des Galeries d’Art.
Under the legislation, France would become the only major market art center to impose a wealth tax on the mere possession of artworks, says the statement. France is the world’s fourth-largest art market, and accounts for more than half of the European Union’s market value, at $4.2 billion, according to the latest Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. The announcement posits that a contraction in the French art market could result in tax losses of up to €578 million (about $671.5 million) when considering the auxiliary industries fueled by the art market.
“Art Basel signed this joint declaration to echo the concerns of its galleries and the wider French art ecosystem about the potential inclusion of artworks as taxable goods in two amendments made to the 2026 French Budget Law, which is currently being debated in parliament,” an Art Basel spokesperson said in an email. “As an active participant in France’s cultural landscape, we remain committed to supporting our galleries and ensuring they can continue to thrive.”
The new regulations are being put forth by Jean-Paul MatteÏ of the Democratic Movement party and Philippe Juvin of the Republicans.
“Technically, how are you going to tax the fact that someone owns art?” Cécile Verdier, president of Christie’s France, told ARTnews in a phone call. “You can tax art when it is bought or sold, but technically, if the people who own art haven’t bought it recently if they don’t sell it, how are you going to tax them? Are you going to ring them at home and see if they have art? People will have to declare art.
“Secondly, because people will not want to declare their art, they will stop buying and selling and will pass artwork on within their families. Also you will stop lending pieces to museums because people will try not to show their art and put their name next to an object.”
The proposed regulations, says the statement, are meant to direct savings toward productive investment and combat tax avoidance, but would in fact target an industry they say is “neither rent-seeking nor abusive.”
Paris-based art advisor Hailey Widrig pointed out in a phone call that the proposal comes at a topsy-turvy time in French government, with varying parties jockeying for influence. “The government changes every week here,” she told ARTnews. “It’s been very chaotic since the spring.”
In her view, the main problem is that the new tax law woudln’t be consistent with similar laws in other EU nations, so it would put buyers and sellers at a disadvantage compared to other EU competitors. She also points out that the proposed guidelines stipulate that the value of the artworks would need to be assessed, but France, she said, doesn’t have an organization akin to the U.S.’s Internal Revenue Service, so it’s not clear who would put a value on the artworks to be taxed.
In the eyes of Paris dealer Kamel Mennour, the proposed tax regime was a “cold shower” after the successful Art Basel Paris. “They want to kill art with this taxation,” he told ARTnews. “It will make all the collectors leave.”
It’s not the first time that politicians have made such a move, Christie’s Verdier pointed out, saying a similar proposal was mooted in 1981 under French president François Mitterand.
“It’s an old story and comes back on a regular basis,” she said, adding, of Mitterand, “This was someone who really understood what culture means and had convictions about how to try to make rich people pay, but they never touched the art.”
